“None of that, Librie.” Elelakorra hopped up to sit on her desk and swung her legs over to face them. “Come on. You were Librie and I was Elora. You remember.”

“I remember,” Libkazaarie agreed slowly, “but that was a long time ago, and now you are the Voice of the Empire.”

“And you are the House Monitor for the Edaledalende Academy. It’s an honored position, Librie.”

“That’s not what-“

“Oh, feh. Lyirnilalie has a lot of opinions. Not many of them matter, in the long run. Elora brushed the matter away with one hand. “And, Libkazaarie? That’s all anyone needs to say on the matter. All right?”

The House Monitor seemed uncertain. She looked around the room. Riensin shrugged cheerfully. Kekla was still very drawn in, probably worried about Lirnilalie . The rest were either inward-looking, concerned with their own issues, or a bit blank, not sure why the House Monitor was looking at them.

Korten smiled crookedly. “Nobody ends up where we are without a few ghosts behind them, Librie. You, me, Ilonilarrona. We all have shadows in our past.”

When Libkazaarie’s eyes settled on Enrie, she’d had time to think about her response. “You are my House Monitor, ma’am, and my superior. You do your job as House Monitor very well, and when we have had complaints about it, we’ve let you know, haven’t we?”

It was, if not the right thing to say, at least not a bad thing. Libkazaarie smiled a little bit, and she nodded her head at Enrie. “You three, I think if you disagreed with the way the Emperor was doing things, you’d let him know.”

“That’s our job and responsibility,” Enrie agreed, but she let herself smile to show the House Monitor she didn’t take that too seriously. “To disagree, to challenge, to fight.”“What historical era are you studying this year, anyway?” Libkazaarie’s eyes narrowed. “That sounds like very early History indeed.”“There’s been a lot of independent reading,” Enrie allowed, “because we’re studying the era of Empress Otyeriotanerio, and then there’s the issue of the treaty, and of embedded aether, and our discussions on the Traitor Emperor…”

“Enough, enough!” Libkazaarie was laughing cheerfully. “I would say that Tairiekie here has had a good influence on you, but I believe you were already a solid student on your own, or you never would have made it in to Edally. It’s a wonder you had any time for this kissing in closets you were supposed to be doing.”

“We had to lock them in,” Taikie admitted, far too cheerfully for Enrie’s tastes. “To get them started, at least.”

Enrie glanced at Gianci. He was flushing, his cheeks turning red and mottled, but he was smiling. “It was a good decision,” he admitted, in a voice that seemed far quieter than his normal tone.